Jury Conformity

1. Discuss the roles of conformity, persuasion, group processes (such as group polarization or groupthink), social comparison, stress, leadership, and/or attribution. Which processes would you argue are going to be most significant during jury deliberation? In jury duty selection and deliberation all of the roles discussed in social psychology will be significant, as to how the jury will engage, react, and make decisions. Conformity is something that people have a natural tendency to do, when they are involved in groups. Persuasion to one point of view versus another, can be helpful or harmful in the decision process. Group process or group think will align individuals in their point of view, this can be good or bad as well, and this ties in with conformity and self-comparison. Self-comparison is something that people do to evaluate themselves against their peers (Kassin, Fein, & Markus, 2014). Jury deliberation does account for stress, the jurors may feel pressure to conform, or they may feel the stress of time considerations on their decision. Stress can result from knowing that your decision will alter another person’s life, in this process. I believe attribution and the selection of a leader in the process of jury selection and deliberation can both be significant. There is

“His or her view could be vital in shifting the direction of the discussions. When there are ambiguities or conflicting positions within the group, he or she is the one entitled to resolve these (Ramesh, 1993).” Studies have indicated that the leader of the group is usually upper class and male, there is a lower incidence of women and minorities that are picked as the leader of the group, and it has been shown that even when the other jurors do not have any idea of their social or financial status, they will pick this type of person with subconscious cues (Ramesh,